In this thesis titled 'Challengers of Moral and Military Strength of the Roman Republic – Description of Five Enemy Military Commanders in Justin's Epitoma Historiarum Pompei Trogi' I analyze how five military commanders hostile to Rome in the republican era were described from the Roman viewpoint in Justin's Epitoma historiarum Pompei Trogi. The five military commanders of my choice are Pyrrhus, Antiochus III, Hannibal, Philip V and Mithridates VI Eupator. The approach of the thesis is military strength, which is for the Romans closely connected to the conceptions of morality. By examining the Romans' perceptions of their enemies I also examine the Romans' perception of their own culture and identity, for considering and describing the others is always related to one's self-perception.

The analysis is based on the text of Justin who lived in the beginning of the 3rd century CE. His work Epitoma is an abridgement of the extensive historical work Historiae Philippicae written in Latin by Pompeius Trogus, a Roman historian who lived during Augustus' reign. Historiae Philippicae has been lost, but Justin has preserved and carried on Trogus' original themes and ideas, which were very typical in the historiography during and preceding Augustus' reign. This is why I consider Justin's Epitoma a useful source of the end of the Roman republic. However, Epitoma has been very unpopular in historical research, for it is filled with errors and the narrative is incoherent. In my opinion, the reason for this might be that Justin probably was a rhetorician who wanted to create, instead of a historical study, a collection of interesting historical moral examples that were considered current also in his period. Thus, my thesis brings forth a new Epitoma's point of view to the ways to describe the enemies of Rome. Furthermore, in the modern research it has been common to focus solely on the negative descriptions of otherness from the Romans' viewpoint, and rarely the positive descriptions of otherness have been examined together with it. This research will endeavor to amend the situation by including to the analysis both the negative and the positive descriptions of Rome's enemies and of the Romans themselves.

In the first analysis chapter 'Military strength and weakness' I will examine what was the foundation of military strength for Romans and their enemies' commanders. The secret of military strength was high morality, which consisted above all of self-discipline. Especially Pyrrhus, Mithridates VI and Hannibal are praised as remarkably strong and morally resilient. They acted as examples for Roman military commanders, but in addition the more emphasis was put on enemies' strength the stronger the Romans who had defeated them seemed. Accordingly, military weakness was caused by weak morale. Antiochus III serves as a stereotypic example of an autocrat who loses his every battle against morally flawless Romans because of his arrogance, selfishness and lack of self-discipline. On the other hand in Epitoma also the Romans' morality is heavily criticized. Indeed, the common opinion in the Roman historiography of the late republic was that the Romans' morality started to weaken after encountering Antiochus III in the 2nd century BC. The criticism is related to the propaganda of Augustus, according to whom he had restored the republic and with it the deteriorated morality.

In the second analysis chapter 'Abusers of strength' I analyze how in Epitoma Roman and enemy commanders used their strength wrong or abusively. The enemy commanders are consistently described as aggressive and they are told to have started all the wars with their own actions. The Romans on the other hand are described as peaceful and protectors of the weaker nations, which was related to Augustus' pax romana propaganda. Philip V, Antiochus III and Mithridates VI are described as especially aggressive. The abuse of strength also manifested as injustice, deception and even assassination of enemy leaders. Especially enemy commanders were adept in these means, but also the Romans are told to have resorted to them, for the Romans seemingly started to adopt the Eastern autocrats' manners in war and diplomacy. In Epitoma the republic's superiority over autocracy is greatly emphasized, and this is apparent particularly in how the enemy leaders used their strength against their family members to secure their own power. We can find criticism of the Romans' use of military strength also in the speeches of enemy commanders, which is again related to the concern of moral decay. It should not, however, be understood as the writer's concrete criticism towards the Romans' aggressiveness, for the Romans are consistently described as peaceful outside of the speeches. Indeed, the enemy speeches rather demonstrate their arrogance and the inevitable hostility between republic and autocracy.